Arizona Cardinals not projected to win much in 2019

ESPN put out a projected wins rating piece on Monday and says the Arizona Cardinals still struggle to win five games in 2019

A lot of what is being projected onto the Arizona Cardinals and the rest of the NFL as it pertains to next season can only be based on what we know now.  Everyone is now though in their offseason planning except for the Super Bowl 53 participants.

According to Bill Barnwell at ESPN, he projects the Cardinals will win 4.5 games next season.  He sees the Cardinals schedule as a tough last place schedule.

With the San Francisco 49ers expected to get quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo back and the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks expected continued success, he considers it a rough going.  But how do we know for sure?

We don’t because there is still so much player movement to sort out.  Free agency and the draft still have to happen.  Guys will get cut that are on rosters right now.

Barnwell doesn’t believe the Cardinals can rebuild their offensive line and take care of all their needs in one offseason.  He might be right, but also let’s not forget all the injuries.

There is a lot that went into the Cardinals going 3-13.  They took care of replacing the coaching staff, although there is about as much chance being given to new head coach Kilff Kingsbury to win as there is a chance this week’s arctic air is going to do a hard left at Toronto and miss the United States.

No doubt a lot of smart work has to be done.  No, most realistic people don’t expect the Cardinals to contend for the playoffs next year.  However as we always say, this is a year to year proposition and you have to play the games to find out who you are.

We all thought the Cardinals would go at least 6-10, 7-9, maybe contend at 9-7 this past season.  We were way off.  The key of course is going to be can the Cardinals improve?

At this point there really is nowhere to go but up.  The 2019 schedule does have its difficulties in spots but they play tough AFC opponents in the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns at home and the last place schedule they have isn’t that daunting right now.

A lot is to happen between now and then.  Let’s at least wait until the free agency frenzy in March plays out and the schedule is released in April to see how that plays out week to week.  Then is a good time to evaluate how things might go.

Then it will need to be re-evaluated after the draft and then again once training camp and preseason get going.  The Cardinals will not go 3-13 in 2019.